As many of our readers know, Model Rule 8.4 has a comment paragraph suggesting that certain discriminatory conduct might be grounds for discipline because it is prejudicial to the administration of justice. An ABA ethics committee is now…

There's an interesting new case out of the Seventh Circuit, reinstating a legal malpractice case against a transactional firm for an alleged failure to warn the client that it might be dealing with a Ponzi scheme. Worth reading in its...

China's Crackdown on Lawyers: What Should US Law Schools and Law Firms Do?

Chinese officials are arresting, detaining, and convicting civil rights and defense lawyers in the country. The Times has an editorial today (July 30) - "the crackdown is undoubtedly intended to crush the 'rights defense' movement, which aims…

The Illinois Review Board has recommended a six-month suspension Eva and Andrew Janas consulted with Respondent on October 21, 2010 because Andrew was experiencing business difficulties. They discussed the possibility of obtaining a divorce…

The Mississippi Supreme Court has held that a person found not incompetent to stand trial on charges that he had murdered his mother is not necessarily precluded from recovery by the Slayer Statute. Based upon this Court’s holding that…

The Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board has recommended a suspension of a year and a day with six months stayed and probation of an attorney who, among other things, accused a judge of misconduct This case highlights the unfavorable…

Judiciary Law 487, the attorney-deceit statute, part of the common law, is reserved by the Appellate Division for really really bad conduct. It is not "lightly given." While proof does not require "clear and convincing" evidence,…

As we discussed yesterday, courts are eager to dismiss legal malpractice cases, early in the case or late, on the question of whether Client can show that "but for" the attorney's negligence there would have been a better economic outcome for…

Nancy Rapoport's Blogspot

Covers governance in higher education and in law firms, bankruptcy ethics, popular culture and the law, Enron and other corporate fiascos, and professional responsibility generally. By Nancy Rapoport, a law professor at UNLV's Boyd School of Law.

My old friend, Seymour Serebnick, just passed away. I loved his boundless curiosity and his deep generosity of spirit. He knew of my love of Disney and was always finding me rare surprises. And he and I loved to talk about…

I think that the dissent was closer to being right than the majority opinion was (of course I think so: I was one of four folks on this amicus brief), and that Congress should fix the problem by adopting the test that we proposed in our…

Taken directly from our announcement--couldn't have written it better myself:On behalf of Dean Rama Venkat, the Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering is proud to announce that our team DRC-Hubo @UNLV finished in eighth place among the…

A potpourri of posts to present:First, today, firms increasingly understand and feel the market pull to focus specifically on client success -- not just delivering the services they've been engaged to perform, but delivering outcomes (and…

Ex-Wilson Sonsini Staffer Seeks To Avoid Jail Over Trades -- "A former Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC information technology employee told a New York federal judge Wednesday he should not be sentenced to jail for trading on inside…

Bloomberg BNA has a fascinating update and analysis: "Dentons’ Disqualification and Legal Advertising: Stir But Don’t Shake" --"The Swiss verein enables member firms operating under the Dentons brand to maintain their own finances…

The legal profession has given themselves to the tech vendors. Their influx to everything lawyer has been successful, causing anyone in state Bar and Bar association leadership to advocate that we all must "embrace technology or die." It's…

Lawyer Jeena Cho (Asian woman pictured) is a San Francisco Bankruptcy Lawyer involved in the "Mindfulness" movement for lawyers. I have no interest in the "Mindfulness" movement and have no problem making fun of whatever it is. I…

I was surprised that an article about why so many lawyers are killing themselves generated an actual real-live thoughtful discussion. While I'm sure in the annals of the internet there are a fair share of comments of "who cares,"…

This month, I experienced one of the most satisfying events of my professional career. At its 124th Annual Meeting in Williamsburg, Virginia, I was elected to a two year term as President of the Uniform Law Commission. You can find the…

Obergefell v. Hodges and the Supreme Court as Arbiter of Constitutional Dispute

I was overjoyed to learn that the United States Supreme Court had decided in Obergefell v. Hodges,[1] that the states must allow same-sex marriage. I thought of my many friends and family members who are gay, and what this decision means to…

Last week I testified before Rhode Island’s Special Legislative Commission to Study Changes to the Law of Joint Tortfeasors. Legislation about tort law is a notoriously difficult matter. The interests of the plaintiff’s and…

Via Solum, I learn that my (part-time) colleague Les Green's (long-gestating) paper on "Law and the Causes of Judicial Decision" is finally on SSRN (it will appear in final form in Green's forthcoming collection of papers from OUP). I have…

Here are some brief comments I made today at a UB seminar on Teaching and Learning in the Classroom of the Future: I’m not at all confident about predicting the future. It’s hard enough just seeing clearly what’s going…

Nicole Black’s latest piece has useful and important things to say about law practice and the state of legal education. In recent months, because of a number of professional endeavors, I’ve had the opportunity to engage with…

I have very mixed feelings about this. The fact that the USA Freedom Act has achieved such wide-ranging support may be less an indication of its compromises than of a fundamental shift in American views. In July 2013, following the ……

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (“SJC”) has recently reversed a lower court’s decision to sanction a Massachusetts attorney. In Gary Wong v. George V.H. Luu, the parties were attempting a settle several…

The Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) recently disbarred a Massachusetts attorney, who misappropriated proceeds from the sale of real estate. In the matter of John H. Wyman, an attorney was hired to probate a will, which stated…

The Supreme Judicial Court recently suspended a Boston, Massachusetts attorney for violating legal ethics rules. In the matter of Orlando Dimambro, a brother and sister hired an attorney to represent them in a negligence claim against an…

California’s Interim Formal Opinion 12-0006 suggests that advertising ethics rules should apply to law firms and lawyers that publish blog posts as part of their website. See the interim opinion or articles discussing the opinion (an…

Yesterday I posted about In re Hunter, a Virginia disciplinary matter that addressed ethics obligations regarding blog posts. A three-judge panel upheld Hunter’s right to blog about cases without his client’s consent. I wrote that there…

A recent article in the ABA Journal discusses the use of what it calls "deal-of-the-day" coupons, in other words, the GroupOn model, as a method of client development. The article looks at aspects of three state ethics opinions that all come…

Client Claims Lawyers Got Him Not Only $104 Million in Pocket, But Also 40 Months in Prison

In September, Bradley Birkenfeld received the largest whistle-blower award ever paid by the IRS, $104 million. however, prior to receiving the award, Mr. Birkenfeld spent 31 months in prison for helping a California developer to evade…

In a predictable move, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has suspended Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas Nocella. We had recently written about the disciplinary charges against him.
-Josh J.T. Byrne, Esquire

There’s a new layer at the bottom of the billable hours pyramid. The top is still occupied by partners, followed by non-partner lawyers, and then by the fairly recent paralegal and other quasi-clerical layers. But, in the…

Caught In A Webb: Ferguson hires high profile lawyer to fight US DOJ reform

High hourly rates charged by some lawyers make headlines, like this one from the Chicago Tribune: Ferguson to pay Chicago lawyer Dan Webb $1,335 an hour to pursue reforms. The “Ferguson” is the small, economically…

Strange Bedfellows: Defendants complain about relationships between attorneys general and plaintiff law firm

Some states, often through their attorneys general, are entering into lucrative contingent fee contracts with plaintiff law firms who make millions of dollars by representing the rights of the state (and taxpayers), at the expense of alleged…

What is an attorney’s possessory lien? It is a lien that an attorney can use to block the client from access to the file. The attorney, however, cannot enforce the lien in court. In a recent unpublished decision the Illinois Appellate…

Thanks to the Law Bulletin for allowing me to present at this Seminar. My topic was “Leveraging Social Media to Build Your Practice.” The Law Bulletin staff could not have been more helpful or accommodating. Source: June 16…

What steps can you take to better manage your time so you're truly more productive and less overwhelmed? For this month's Friday 5+ Tech Tips, we asked the practice management experts for their best time management…

What steps can you take to better manage your time so you're truly more productive and less overwhelmed? For this month's Friday 5+ Tech Tips, we asked the practice management experts for their best time management…

What lawyer doesn’t like getting good referrals? The potential client’s matter fits your practice, and he’s heard good things about you from the person who sent him over.
You can build a steady stream of referral business…

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York has recently affirmed the dismissal of a legal malpractice claim. In Rodriguez v Jacoby & Meyers, LLP, a client was injured in a rear-end car accident and subsequently retained…

The Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a legal malpractice suit, on the basis that the clients had not provided sufficient evidence to support their claims. In Roseland v. Wentzell, a couple owned several parcels of…

The Supreme Court of Nebraska has vacated a trial court’s order granting a client’s motion for a new trial, and affirmed a jury verdict in favor an attorney. In Balames v. Ginn, a client filed a legal malpractice claim…

Departing Partners And Potential Conflicts With Current And Former Clients: The Featured Role Of The “Substantially Related” Test In Two Recent Disqualification Decision

In the space of fifteen months, the Northern District of Texas and the District Court of Delaware have each issued significant attorney disqualification orders. In both cases, the “substantially related” test regarding past and…

As many attorneys who follow partner departures and lateral moves know, in 2014 a group of attorneys at Nelson Levine De Luca & Hamilton, LLC (“Nelson Levine”) in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, left the firm to join Lewis…

Partner Departures and Golden v. California Emergency Physicians Medical Group: Does California’s Business and Professions Code § 16600 Void Any Partnership Provision that Restricts a Departing Partner’s Right to Compete?

The Ninth Circuit’s recent decision, filed April 8, 2015, in Golden v. California Emergency Physicians Medical Group (9th Circuit) Case No. 12-16514, has potentially far-reaching implications for what is deemed to be an unlawful…

One of the most fruitful avenues of investigation is to look at material that nobody ever thought would harm them. That’s the kind of material people do not take great pains to hide. Why hide it when it won’t hurt you and there is…

These are still early days for the scandal engulfing world soccer, but in the indictments and other stories emerging we see three distinct features crucial for most successful investigations.
We have written about all of them, but rarely are…

News this morning of a Federal Trade Commission civil fraud case against four “cancer” charities in Tennessee is a good time to highlight a wonderful investigative tool out there that we have been using for years.
Based on the…

Social Security Disability Applicants: Have No Fear, The System is Not Going Under

According to Chicken Little, the sky was always falling. Some observers of the Social Security Disability (SSDI) system seem to have a similar belief – that the SSDI system is “broke” and there won’t be enough money to…

In a long overdue action, the Pennsylvania Senate approved Senate Bill No. 928, which increases the required minimum liability insurance coverage in Pennsylvania to $25,000 per person, and $50,000 per accident; the bill also increases the…

Supreme Court Clarifies When Notice of Ability to Return to Work is Required in Pa. Workers’ Compensation Claim

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court unanimously ruled on May 26, 2015 in School District of Philadelphia v. WCAB (Hilton) that an employer is not required to provide an injured employee with a Notice of Ability to Return to Work…

Guile is Good! Why We Need Lawyers

Before beginning an undeserved two month vacation, I would like to share some hopeful news about law reform. Leaders now see that remedying individual injustices is good, but improving the procedures that cause them is where true success…

Here is a photo of Thomas Thompson who was executed at San Quentin in 1998. Thompson was sentenced to death after being convicted of murder and rape in Orange County, California. The death sentence was voided by the Ninth Circuit Court of…